Four govt hospitals to build by local fund

India cancels loan

Zarif Mahmud: Four years have passed, fixed term of the project has also expired. However, there is no progress in building 500-bed hospitals for the existing medical colleges in Jessore, Cox’s Bazar, Noakhali and Pabna. As a result, India has canceled the loan from the project. Work on the project is starting anew with full local funding. As a result, the time-cost of the project is increasing.
According to the Planning Commission, the incident took place under the project ‘Establishment of 500 bedded Hospital and Ancillary Building in Pabna, Jessore, Cox’s Bazar and Abdul Malek Ukil Medical College and Public Leader Nurul Haque Modern Hospital, Noakhali. The project was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in May 2016. The approved estimated cost of the project was Tk 2,103.32 crore.
Of this, government funding was Rs 63.32 crore and Indian debt was Rs 1,440 crore. Till June 2021, the project has cost Tk 2 crore 36 lakh, which is only 0.38 percent of the total cost of the project. However, the infrastructural progress is zero.
Deputy head of the Planning Commission’s socio-economic infrastructure (health wing) Mohammad Amjad Hossain told that the Department of Health Services has sent a proposal to the Planning Commission to amend the project. India had some conditions in the loan, but it was not fulfilled. The project will now be implemented with government funding. A PEC meeting will be held in front with the proposal of the health service department.
Indian LOCs are excluded from the project. In the first amendment, the total cost of the project has been proposed to be Tk 2,071.06 crore, which will be borne entirely by the public sector. The estimated cost of the proposed first amendment is Tk 8.44 crore more than the approved estimate. It has been proposed to extend the duration of the project till June 2024. However, the project was scheduled to be completed by June 2021.
According to the Economic Relations Department, the project was scrapped long before the Indian loan was received. Muhammad Rezaul Karim, Deputy Secretary (India) of the Economic Relations Department, told that the project was no longer on the list of Indian borrowers. It was dropped before I came to ERD.
Muhammad Rezaul Karim declined to comment on why the Indian debt was dropped.
The health department claims that there will be no compromise with the quality of work of the hospital. Must work according to schedule. No need to overdo it. However, measures must be taken to ensure that the contractor does not work less than the contract. If multi-storied buildings are constructed in hospitals, space will be saved. This will also reduce the cost of construction of the building and will make it possible to enhance the beauty by planting more trees in the vacant space of the hospital. The balance of the environment will increase.
Project officials said the cost of the original project was estimated as per the 2014 rate schedule of the Public Works Department. At present the project will be implemented in 2018 rate schedule. According to him, the construction cost of all the buildings has increased. The PEC (Project Evaluation Committee) meeting was held on 10 December 2020 at the Planning Commission on the revised DPP (Development Project Proposal) of the project.
According to the decision of the PEC meeting, the decision has been taken to construct a multi-storey building with as many floors as possible. In addition, the cost of furniture, equipment and other related items has increased with the increase in the number of buildings. As a result, the cost of the revised project has increased overall.
Reasons for project modification Rate schedule change: Expenditure on the project was estimated as per the 2014 rate schedule of Public Works Department. However, the project will be implemented according to the current rate schedule of 2018. As a result, the cost of the project is increasing as per the rate schedule. Increase the number of sections In the original approved project, 10 new departments have been added with 21 departments. As the department grew, so did the cost of furniture, appliances and other related items.
Creating new terms
New posts have been created for Medical College and Medical College Hospital. It will also have to build additional infrastructure. Due to these reasons, the time-cost of the project will also increase.
Redesign of equipment and supplies
Medical equipment and supplies have been redesigned to expand the department. As a result, the expenditure in this sector is also increasing.
Paying the price of land The land price of Cox’s Bazar Medical College Hospital has not been paid. According to the administrator’s estimate, about five crore rupees is required to pay the price of the land. This will also increase the time-cost of the main project.
Transfer the tower
There are two national grid towers and lines at the site designated for Noakhali Medical College Hospital. The construction of the main hospital building is not possible without the relocation of this tower. Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) has given an estimate of around Tk. 10 crore for the transfer of towers and lines. A revised project has been proposed for this amount.
Accommodation for resident physicians and surgeons It is important to stay on the hospital campus to provide uninterrupted medical care to full-time physicians such as residential physicians and residential surgeons. The original project did not have any accommodation for residential doctors and residential surgeons. The new revised project proposes funding for an additional building for this purpose.
Force ventilation system
The RDPP (Revised Development Project Proposal) provides for base ventilation in the basement, which was not in the DPP (Development Project Proposal).
Proposal of modern waste management system: The process of incineration for waste management is currently unhealthy and not up to date. Modern waste management system has been proposed in RDPP.
Installation of sub-stations and generators: Uninterrupted uninterrupted power supply is essential for OT, CCU, ICU, HDU, dialysis units. For this, sub-stations and generators have been provided in RDPP, which were not in DPP.
Purpose of project
Ensuring primary health care in four districts. Improving people’s quality of life through modern medical services. To create employment for more than one thousand doctors and other professionals.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, although Bangladesh has made a lot of progress in the healthcare sector, it is necessary to increase the services as well as infrastructural facilities to make this sector world class. Upazila health complexes and district hospitals provide primary and secondary health services respectively. Officially, tertiary healthcare activities are usually conducted at the national and departmental level by the hospital affiliated to the medical education institution.
At present the demand for healthcare at the tertiary level is steadily increasing. Taking this aspect into consideration, four medical colleges were established in four important districts of the country with the aim of improving the quality of healthcare in the tertiary sector. The academic buildings of these medical colleges were constructed under the sector program implemented under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
But later on, due to non-establishment of hospitals as an integral part of the medical colleges, on the one hand, the educational activities of the students of these medical colleges are being disrupted and on the other hand, the general public is being deprived of access to advanced medical services.
The main activities of the project A 10-storey hospital building will be constructed on a 10-storey foundation in each medical college. The area will be 25 lakh 6 thousand 732 feet. The student hostel building will be expanded upwards, each of which will be 3 lakh 43 thousand 57 square feet. 2 lakh 39 thousand square feet eastern dormitory will be constructed.
3 lakh 14 thousand 200 square feet residential building will be constructed for doctors-teachers-officers-employees. 31,610 modern medical equipment will be purchased for hospitals and medical colleges. Besides, 11 vehicles and 32 thousand 253 pieces of furniture will be purchased.